I'm think that establishing explicit guidelines regarding our responsibilities (at individual and societal levels) towards various non-human animals is a good thing. The other great apes are a good place to start. It is wrong, in my opinion, to treat animals as things. That said, saying that the other great apes are part of a "community of equals" goes just a bit overboard.
I don't like it at all, I think its the wrong way to frame a conservation obligation. I do agree we need to rethink our relationships with animals, specifically with great apes however apes nor other animals are not humans. To impose cultural standards for life, like human rights, on non-humans is ignorant.
I'm think that establishing explicit guidelines regarding our responsibilities (at individual and societal levels) towards various non-human animals is a good thing. The other great apes are a good place to start. It is wrong, in my opinion, to treat animals as things. That said, saying that the other great apes are part of a "community of equals" goes just a bit overboard.
I don't like it at all, I think its the wrong way to frame a conservation obligation. I do agree we need to rethink our relationships with animals, specifically with great apes however apes nor other animals are not humans. To impose cultural standards for life, like human rights, on non-humans is ignorant.
I went into a deeper debate sometime earlier this month at this link, "Spanish Socialist Party consider simians worthy of human rights."